Gloria, Goldsmith and Kersey each ran unopposed in last year’s election.

Goldsmith responded Thursday with the following statement.

“Mayor Bob Filner crossed the line, alleging that members of the City Council and I had been ‘bought off’ by hoteliers in the TMD matter,” he said. “This is a very serious allegation of criminal conduct, and it is baseless and defamatory. … Accusations such as this against the City Council and the city attorney should have no place in a civilized, public-policy discussion.”

Goldsmith has also noted that, under the mayor’s logic, Filner wouldn’t be able to negotiate new contracts with the labor unions that spent millions getting him elected. Yet that is occurring and is permissible under state law.

A deal was reached Thursday on the tourism dispute after TMD officials and Filner agreed to terms. At a news conference Filner was asked if he regretted his comments from earlier in the week. He started to answer and then paused for nine seconds.

“We’ve come to a good day today,” he said. “Let’s just leave it at that.”

Filner later added, “I said this was a window of how things worked in San Diego and the closed kind of decision-making between the council and the mayor and the tourist authority and campaign contributions. I mean it’s a web of relationships and I think it’s good for people to understand them.”

Filner also has a web of relationships through campaign spending.

Unions representing hotel workers gave at least $205,000 to political action committees supporting Filner for mayor. During TMD negotiations, Filner proposed a requirement that called for downtown hotels to pay their workers a “living wage” that includes higher pay and greater health benefits. He later dropped that idea although the council agreed to hold a hearing on the issue as part of the settlement.

The other issue Filner raised that rankled council members was questioning whether they were breaking state law by voting on the TMD issue. Filner said that officers of a public agency who received contributions of more than $250 within the past 12 months can’t participate in proceedings that financially benefit that donor.

That law — Government Code Section 84308 — specifically exempts city councils and other legislative bodies because it would likely render those officials unable to vote on a wide range of issues, which Goldsmith pointed out during the council meeting. The law is most widely applied to appointed board members and commissioners who are soliciting contributions as they run for elective office.

“These divisive accusations from Mayor Filner are untrue and unproductive toward reaching consensus and leading San Diego,” said Faulconer in a statement Friday. “I certainly hope that if the mayor could do it all over again he would choose to handle the situation differently.”

Gloria said: “As research easily demonstrates, the allegations are completely false. Our city government can be far more effective serving the needs of San Diegans when we focus on solving challenges instead of being challenges.”

The U-T analysis looked at campaign contributions to elected officials through Dec. 31, the latest disclosures available. City law prohibits candidates from collecting campaign money beyond six months after an election.

That means that the only two elected officials eligible to accept contributions during the tourism dispute were Filner and Lightner, both of whom were on the November ballot. Their disclosures for the first six months of this year aren’t due until the end of July.